UNITED KINGDOM/IRELAND: BRITISH AND IRISH LEADERS TAKE TO THE STREETS ON FINAL DAY'S CAMPAIGNING AHEAD OF NORTHERN IRELAND PEACE DEAL REFERENDUM

Record ID: 337638

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM/IRELAND: BRITISH AND IRISH LEADERS TAKE TO THE STREETS ON FINAL DAY'S CAMPAIGNING AHEAD OF NORTHERN IRELAND PEACE DEAL REFERENDUM
  • Date: 21st May 1998
  • Summary: HOLYWOOD, BELFAST (MAY 21, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF MAIN STREET 0.09 2. SLV/SV MAN PLACING "YES" VOTE PLACARD ON STREET LAMP (2 SHOTS) 0.21 3. SV WOMAN VISITING SHOPS WITH "VOTE YES" LEAFLETS 0.41 4. PAN BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR WALKING DOWN HIGH STREET, GREETING PEOPLE, SHAKING HANDS 0.52 6. VARIOUS OF BLAIR SHA
  • Embargoed: 5th June 1998 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HOLYWOOD, NEAR BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM/ DUBLIN, IRISH REPUBLIC
  • City:
  • Country: Irish Republic EUROPE United Kingdom LATIN AMERICA Northern Ireland
  • Reuters ID: LVA2DX9U9MQ5650BRVEJOVCJGMFT
  • Story Text: British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish Republic counterpart Bertie Ahern have been doing some last minute campaigning ahead of Friday's referendum vote, designed to end 30 years of bloodshed and create the biggest political changes in the island since Britain partititioned it in 1921.

    Blair appealed on Thursday (May 21) to Northern Irish voters to trust his vision of a harmonious future for Catholics and Protestants and vote "Yes" in a referendum on a historic peace deal for the province.

    With only hours left before voters on both sides of the Irish border deliver their verdict on April's peace pact, Blair made his third visit to Northern Ireland in a bid to persuade the Protestant majority, many of whom are sceptical about the accord.

    "No" campaigners denounced the agreement at their final news conference as a "triumph for terror".They accused "phoney Tony" Blair of lying about the accord's true implications and said the deal could let convicted murderers into government.

    On the streets, campaigners from both sides thrust leaflets through letterboxes, and distributed them to shoppers in main streets.

    The peace agreement, thrashed out last month by the British and Irish governments and eight political parties, aims to banish into history a bitter sectarian guerrilla war that has killed some 3,600 people.

    In the Republic of Ireland, Prime Minister Bertie Ahern was out campaigning around Dublin.Most polls give backing to a strong "Yes" vote, but Ahearn was keen to point out that thre was no room for complacency, and that it was a historic vote.

    The latest opinion poll, taken by telephone on Monday and Tuesday for the Irish Times newspaper and published on Thursday, showed 60 percent of Northern Irish voters favouring the accord and 25 percent opposed, with 15 percent undecided.

    Among Unionists, 43 percent were against, 40 percent in favour, and 17 percent undecided.The poll had a margin of error of 4.5 percent.

    Most politicians believe the agreement needs a strong endorsement from Northern Ireland's 1.18 million voters in order to work.Anything below 60 percent, they say, may mean the deal was "in trouble".
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